Messenger

Just like the Oracle speaks to the gods for the people, the Messengers speak to the people for the gods.

—Noctis Lucis Caelum

Messengers(二十四使, Nijūyonshi?, lit. Twenty-four Messengers) are magical beings sent by Astrals—the gods of Eos—to help the Oracle and make the gods' will known to mankind through her in Final Fantasy XV. While there are said to be twenty-four Messengers, five are witnessed in the game.

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Being one of the Oracle's twenty-four Messengers has its perks, circumventing time-space notwithstanding.

—Ignis Scientia in Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition in reference to Umbra

Cosmogony illustration of Messengers descending upon the King and the Oracle.

The Hexatheon and Their Divine Host chapter of Cosmogony posits that in the beginning the Astrals fought side by side with mankind yet the deities themselves seldom appeared before mortals. Instead, they sent servants to convey their divine will to the Oracle, a human the Astrals had given the power to commune with the gods. These servants are known as Messengers. This Cosmogony chapter further posits that the Messengers "number twenty-four", implying the number is static.

The Messengers are magical and thus don't appear to age. They can travel anywhere regardless of geography and even time. Though divine in origin, they commonly manifest as earthly beings and thus remain inconspicuous. Messengers are spoken to having fought daemons in some Archives entries, but are not witnessed directly doing so in Final Fantasy XV.

Gentiana is the High Messenger. She is a mysterious, dark-haired and ageless woman who moved into Fenestala Manor to live with the Oracles' bloodline. Gentiana is gentle and has an ethereal presence, often keeping her eyes closed even when moving or conversing with others. She guides Lunafreya to fulfill her destiny as the guide to the Chosen King.

Umbra and Pryna are Lunafreya's canine companions who serve as delivery dogs, relaying messages between Lunafreya and Noctis. They manifest themselves as a pair of white and black dogs yet boast mystical powers.

Garuda is a Messenger of the Winds, an ancient being once defeated by the Astrals in battle and sent into long slumber. Her true name lost, she takes the name of an invading goddess and aids Noctis in a similar way to the Astrals. She appears in the Adventurer from Another World collaboration quest added in patch 1.27.

The harbingers of darkness have descended 'pon our realmYet much unlike the former king who the vanguard did helmI issue orders from the rear, a veritable 'coward king''Tis the Messengers who fight—their praises we ought sing

—Monolith in Steyliff Grove Menace

The daemon Naglfar is said to have fought the 24 Messengers to a standstill in the early days of Lucis (and according to the Japanese version the battle was to the death). A monolith in Steyliff Grove Menace engraved by a former king of Lucis mentions Messengers fighting "harbingers of darkness", which potentially refers to the Naglfar battle.

Lunafreya has grown up with Gentiana by her side, and her two magical dogs, Pryna and Umbra. Noctis was gifted the Carbuncle totem when he was three[1], and the Messenger has looked over him since. After being injured in a daemon attack, Noctis was brought to Fenestala Manor to recuperate where he met Lunafreya and Gentiana. Luna and Noctis became friends and she told him he is the Chosen King said to save the world one day. Gentiana was pleased the future Oracle and the future king of Lucis would have such a close relationship.

Fenestala Manor was invaded by the Empire of Niflheim and Noctis and his father, King Regis, fled back to the Crown City. Queen Sylva of Tenebrae, the Oracle, was killed, and her children fell into imperial custody. Gentiana and the dogs stayed by Lunafreya as her faithful companions and she regularly sent the dogs to Insomnia to deliver messages to Noctis via a sticker book. As depicted in Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV, Prompto Argentum, a boy in Noctis's class, once tended to an injured Pryna while she was on a delivery to Insomnia. Lunafreya became the new Oracle at age 16[1] and began to travel the imperial lands to heal people of Starscourge, a malady that had afflicted the land in recent years.

When a 24-year-old Lunafreya heads to Crown City of Insomnia for the treaty-signing for peace between Niflheim and Lucis, she goes alone, but sends a message to Noctis via Umbra, writing that she is looking forward to seeing him after all the years they have spent apart. The treaty-signing is but a ruse for Niflheim to invade Lucis, and Lunafreya escapes the decimated city with the Ring of the Lucii, a royal heirloom only the rightful heir to the Lucian throne can wear, her mission to deliver it to Noctis. She meets with the Messengers outside the gates of Insomnia and receives the notebook carried by Umbra that brings Noctis's reply to her earlier message. Lunafreya's brother, who works for the empire, Ravus Nox Fleuret, later helps her and Gentiana return to Tenebrae, their homeland. Umbra continues to deliver messages between Lunafreya and Noctis, while Pryna stays by her side.

Gentiana appears to Noctis to tell him of Lunafreya's wish for him to forge covenants with the Astrals. She guides him telepathically to forge a covenant with Ramuh, and her watching over his journey is made apparent when she begins to appear in the background of photos snapped by Noctis's friend Prompto. During the party's investigation of the Perpetouss Keep in Adventurer from Another World, the mysterious beings known as the Ixal are trying to summon a goddess from another world, during the battle Noctis makes a pact with a long forgotten Messenger of the Winds who had been sleeping for centuries her name lost to time she takes the name Garuda from the invading goddess.

Noctis makes his way to the city of Altissia where he is to rendezvous with Lunafreya, and meets Gentiana and Umbra at the hotel. When Lunafreya is killed, Pryna is said to have died alongside her, although her nature as a Messenger leaves this open to interpretation. As depicted in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis, Noctis's friend Ignis Scientia heads to the Altar of the Tidemother to help Noctis and Lunafreya, and runs into a collapsed Pryna who delivers him a psychic message of the future. Later on, when Prompto wanders the imperial snowfields in Episode Prompto, a ghostly Pryna leads him to a site of fallen magitek troopers where he comes to terms with his fears and insecurities. Whether the dog's appearance is but a figment of his imagination is ambiguous, but the dog acts in accordance to Pryna's role as Messenger by guiding him.

Gentiana never returns to Tenebrae, leaving the people there perplexed. Umbra continues to help Noctis, and delivers Lunafreya's final message to him after her death. On his way to Gralea, the imperial capital, Noctis is met by Gentiana and learns her true form is that of the Astral goddess Shiva who forges a covenant with him.

Noctis disappears from the world for ten years. The Starscourge overwhelms Eos and the sun sets for good. Gentiana informs the Glaives that the True King will return, and asks them to safeguard Angelgard. After ten years Noctis awakes there ready to fulfill the prophecy and return light to the world. He is delivered a message by Umbra to meet with his old friends. As told in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades, he also meets Gentiana. Umbra accompanies Noctis to Hammerhead where he reunites with Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto. Umbra stays at Hammerhead as the friends move on, but on the break of the first dawn he awakes on the steps of the Citadel to see the rising sun. It is unknown what happens to the Messengers after the prophecy has been fulfilled and both the Lucis Caelum and Fleuret bloodlines have been extinguished.

Due to their nature the Messengers likely allude to angels—non-physical entities or spirits found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits or a guiding influence. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God's tasks. The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of spirits found in many other religious traditions. In art, angels are often depicted with bird-like wings, a halo, robes and various forms of glowing light. In Final Fantasy XV the Messengers appear with angel wings in Cosmogony (Garuda appearing with physical wings in Adventurer from Another World), and are divine messengers and guides to mankind to fulfill the prophecy of the True King.